In my half term report for Yeovil Town's on the pitch performances, one of the issues that I highlighted at the time was the need for either new strikers, or better supply to the strikers. It was quite obvious that the team that had scored six goals at Newport County and four goals at Notts County had dried up badly. Even with those two matches, we've scored 30 goals in 28 League Two games. Compared with last season, we'd scored 38 goals in League Two matches by the same stage of the season, so particularly given that 15 of those goals (50 percent) were scored in the first seven games of the season that is one sizeable drop-off. It is the obvious reason why we've slipped from being a team that was nudging the play-off slots in that early table, to worrying about the bottom two places as we reach crunch time in the 2018-19 season.

There has been a slight upturn in results, with the excellent backs-to-the-wall win over Mansfield Town, coupled with the vital six-pointer against Notts County. But both of these victories were grafted results, rather than fluent football, coupled with a feeling that if it wasn't for Nathan Baxter's goalkeeping, and Notts looking increasingly like they justify their position as the worst side in the division, that we might have struggled. And so it proved, when we came up against Lincoln City earlier this week, where there ended up being a gap between the two sides, and the impression that the Imps didn't need to get out of second gear to take all three points.

That pattern of being good enough to beat Notts County, but not good enough to match Lincoln City may give fans causes for both optimism and pessimism. Last season, when we played Barnet at this stage of the campaign, we gained a 2-0 victory thanks to an early goal, coupled with a late strike that finally saw off the opposition's attempts to get back into the game. That result against the Bees turned out to be crucial, as if we'd fluffed it in any way, the final league table showed us that we wouldn't have survived the drop. It was truly a six-pointer, and was the one single result of the 2017-18 season that kept us up. However, when we faced Accrington Stanley not that long after that, we found ourselves a sizeable gap behind the eventual League Two Champions in their standard of play.

This season, instead of Barnet it's Notts County, and instead of Accrington, it's Lincoln. So the positive take from that would be that we would be good to go down, but the negative take would be that there is still the same gap between ourselves and the sides at the top of the division. Our current 20th position, following three years of 19th, 20th, 19th does point to more of the same at present. Mind you, that's a slightly improved take on how things looked prior to the Mansfield and Notts County results!

As already stated, the lack of attacking play is what is holding us back at present. From the overall pattern of games I've seen, the match statistics at the end of the game, and the overall goals scored, I think it's an issue to do with the supply to our strikers, and the lack of chances that we generate inside the penalty box - most of our recent goals have come outside the box. However, it's fairly obvious that we are lacking strikers in numbers at present - the loss of Olufela Olomola and Omari Patrick, and their gradual loss of playing time made that obvious even before they were returned to their parent clubs.

Thankfully, a new striker appears to be top of Darren Way's shopping list, judging by his last interview. It needs to be a good one, rather than someone who will become a bit-part player, as Omari Patrick did. My assumption is that it will be a loan signing - Way currently has four loanees signed up, and it seems inevitable that we'll end up with a fifth borrowed player.

He revealed that he had watched a match last Monday, 24 hours before the Lincoln game. Few first team fixtures take place on Mondays which means it is almost certainly an Under-23 match taking place. Monday was the day that most clubs played their Under-23 Premier League Cup games, with nine matches taking place. The most local of these was Exeter City's game against Nottingham Forest, which saw 19 year old striker Virgil Gomis bag a hat-trick for Forest. Way might have gone further afield - there were games at Peterborough United, Leeds United, Derby County, Doncaster Rovers, Blackburn Rovers, Charlton Athletic, Norwich City and Hull City. But the location, and the fact that Gomis spent a one month loan spell with Braintree Town just before Christmas, would make him a decent match for the sort of player we go for. But 26 days into the month of January, nothing has materialised to fill that hole, which suggests its not proving an easy task.

The need for a striker also made me look at our overall squad in that area, and I can see a bigger challenge brewing in the summer for Way which - assuming he's still in the job - he needs to be looking at now. Taking each striker in turn:

Francois Zoko : Is still starting games regularly, as the first choice player. However, in 17 appearances this season, he's failed to score and hasn't provided an assist. Francois was our top goalscorer in the previous three seasons, so he's clearly been a success at Yeovil Town. But unless there's a sudden upturn in his form, I suspect that at the age of 35 years old, this season may be his last at the club. He is out of contract in the summer.

Alex Fisher : Overall, Alex is averaging a goal every three games, which is a decent return. However, his position is one to watch - since Way changed his formation from the 4-4-2, Fisher has been dropped to the bench, presumably because he doesn't feel that the player fits that tactic. It's unusual to leave your top scorer on the bench, and to use a player that hasn't scored. So I wonder where that leads in the long run. Alex hasn't scored in the League since October 23rd, whilst his last goal came against Stockport County in November, that saw him suffer a groin injury in that game. I might be wrong, but it has the same feel of when Tom Eaves fizzled out of the side during the 2016-17 season. Regardless of Way's thoughts on the subject, Fisher is out of contract at the end of this season, and so may fancy looking elsewhere anyway.

Yoann Arquin : In theory Yoann has played most of his career as a front line striker. However, 90 percent of his time with the Glovers has seen him used as a winger, so it would be wrong to consider his strike record. He's also only been given two half-season contracts with the club so far, and again is out of contract in the summer, and so may fancy a bit more financial security.

Korrey Henry : At 19 years old, Korrey was probably brought in with the aim of 'learning' his trade at Huish Park. West Ham United saw him as a midfielder, but Yeovil announced him as a striker which is where he's played so far. However, he's only had 12 minutes worth of football since August 17th, and has only been named on the teamsheet six times since then. Even allowing for his one month loan at Poole Town, and a groin injury, that's probably not what he expected. He hasn't got onto a teamsheet since November 24th, and despite the club not listing him in an article itemising players that were getting injury treatment, he didn't make it into the matchday eighteen on Tuesday, despite both Gabriel Rogers and Daniel Ojo being named. His one year contract at Huish Park does have a one year option on it, in the club's favour, but you wonder if they'll exercise that.

That in a nutshell is it. I'm not going to consider players like Devon Arnold, who at the age of 17 years old is not yet on a professional contract. I'd also not class Rhys Browne as a striker, even though he has occasionally played there. Jordan Green, who had also deputised there (although I think he was better as a winger) is now off the club's books.

So if Darren Way's targetted striker does turn out to be another loanee from a Premier League or Championship side's Under-23 set-up that has to be returned at the end of the season, then he may face some substantial challenges in the summer. It's likely that he'll be looking at a high turnover in that area of his squad. Whilst at the back, you probably would aim to keep the majority of the players we have in our squad, at the other end of the field it wouldn't be an entire surprise if there was a clean sweep in that area. For that reason, I'd prefer to see a new permanent striker blended into the squad now, but with just five days to go until the window closes, that might be an optimistic request.

Finally, the working assumption amongst all Yeovil Town supporters has been that defender Tom James is out of contract at the end of this season. Indeed, that was what was stated by Yeovil Town when in January 2018 they announced that he had penned a new deal. So in theory, he's now into the final six months of that contract, leaving the club with a serious decision to make if any bids come in for him? Not quite - it seems the situation is more complicated than that.

Tweets by reporter Chris Spittles, and also the BBC Bristol Sport account say that they believe that Tom's contract actually goes beyond the summer, with the BBC saying they believe the deal ends in June 2020. That does go against what the club have revealed, and unfortunately there's no way of absolutely confirming who is correct, unless the club provide a clarification themselves. However, it is a baffling situation that what would be good news for fans, has been officially kept under wraps. It would mean that the club would be (within reason) able to fend off any transfer interest for a highly versatile player, who seems to be the clickbait websites favourite Yeovil player to write articles about. If there is no urgency to make a decision over James, the club would do well to make clear whether their January 2018 statement still stands or whether since that point there has been a further extension.

Really don't think it matters who he gets in as a striker. The problem is the style of play and I think that is down to the manager. We went ahead early against Notts County and just seemed to sit back and lets be honest the worse team in the league outplayed us for long periods of the game. He needs to be braver at home. I have watched Yeovil for 50 years and this is the most boring football I have seen and that includes the Brian Hall Years !
We need a Graham Roberts moment again but that ain't going to happen as DW has a job for life under Fry and Hayward.
26/01/2019 16:06:08

eddie harding said ...

Once again a very good read with many areas giving food for thought . I fear YTFC's problems will from now on start to compound .Apart from the obvious , no one solution will solve our problems . Fixtures are next ,12 games in 8 weeks leads to injuries and by extension a weakened squad .A weakened squad leads to poor results which lead to fewer points ;and all the time the clock is ticking . I don't blame the players , in fact if they were left to sort it out for themselves things would improve ,e.g eddie howe .I now dread Saturdays .
26/01/2019 18:59:22

SL6 Glover said ...

I agree with Andy
Its all about the style of football being played - no creativity, no desire to test goalkeepers from distance; always wanting to take an extra touch allowing defenders to block.
It was obvious from the first home game of the season that Zoko was past his shelf life yet he remains DW’s blind spot.
Fisher is able to finish given the opportunity but is played as a target man when he would be better operating in the box.
More imagination Darren please - look at how Moore and Eaves deliver under more imaginative coaches
27/01/2019 14:42:10

Dusty said ...

Is it a question of current strikers missing lots of chances or current strikers not getting enough chances? I rarely hear people saying that if we had taken all our chances we would have won the game. Our goal difference is only -4 the same as some mid-table teams and our goals scored are 30 with the bottom six teams scoring 27-30 goals. Our goals against are 34, way less than most teams around us and less than Bury & Carlisle who are 3rd and 4th! Do we know our conversion rate of chances? If that's low then a new striker please, if not then more chances please.
27/01/2019 14:58:19

Badger said ...

Dusty - my own view is that we're not creating enough chances. So I do agree it may come down to supply, rather than necessarily the strikers. There are some games where we're packing players behind the ball and leaving Zoko isolated. We've definitely changed the style and tactics from those earlier season matches, which is puzzling given where the strengths were in those opening games.
27/01/2019 17:52:16

John Clark said ...

I think Tom James is the key, if he stays. He should be given more responsibility to control the distribution, maybe with the armband. My heart now sinks when I see Zoko on the teamsheet: his heart does not seem to be in it.
27/01/2019 22:41:49

Graham Oakes said ...

At the beginning of the season we looked like a top 7 team with attacking players on both wings and options in the middle. Sadly injuries meant we lost our best wide players and the loss of loanees mean that we are now toothless. Jordan had to leave but we miss his threat.
28/01/2019 17:06:00

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